On Sunday, Pete Buttigieg issued a direct warning to Joe Manchin and other Senate Democrats who are pressuring Vice President Joe Biden to cut down his climate change agenda: your refusal to budge will result in lives being lost.
White House officials have admitted that elements relating to renewable energy and clean electricity are likely to be removed from the bill in order to win the support of Manchin and fellow skeptic Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.
Both votes are crucial in a Senate that is evenly split 50-50.
Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who represents a coal-dependent state, opposes parts of the president's clean energy performance program, which is a $150 billion key pillar of his Build Back Better plan, as well as the president's $3.5 trillion spending package.
“The longer you take to do something about it, the more it’s going to cost in livelihoods as well as lives,” Buttigieg said.
Biden is trying to negotiate a compromise with Manchin and Sinema that would enable the bill to pass, despite the fact that the president has already acknowledged that cutbacks would be made to the program's funding.
“Poll after poll shows overwhelming support for this legislation. Yet… in a 50-50 Senate we need every Democratic senator to vote ‘yes.’ We now have only 48. Two Democratic senators remain in opposition, including Manchin.” Bernie Sanders wrote.
What do you think of Manchin's view in this debate? And do you think Buttigieg's criticism is justified? Let me know in the comments.
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